February 16, 2010

Madison Student Wins Care Wisconsin
Best Time Ever Contest

Care Wisconsin recognized 8th grader Lizzie Snellings for her touching “Best Time Ever” essay on spending time with cousin, AJ, who has Autism. Lizzie attends Sherman Middle School in Madison. Her parents are Rhonda and Mark Gaudreau and father is Bill Snellings. To read Lizzie's essay, click here.

Lizzie was awarded the grand prize--a two-night stay for four people at Hotel Rome in Wisconsin Dells plus admission to Mt. Olympus Water and Theme Park. She was one of more than 1,500 students from 47 middle schools in south central Wisconsin to participate in the nonprofit Care Wisconsin's 9th Annual Best Time Ever Art and Writing Contest.

The contest encourages students to capture a memorable "best time" shared with a beloved older adult or someone with a disability. Special thanks go to contest sponsors, including American Family Insurance, Mt. Olympus, Hotel Rome and Capital Newspapers’ Newspapers in Education literacy program. All contest entrants received a day pass to Mt. Olympus Water and Theme Park. 

Community volunteers in Washington County judged entries and selected the Top 100 best entries. These entries are published in a booklet, which will be mailed to all students whose work is featured and will be available on our Web site in the spring. Judges included local Care Wisconsin staff, Michael Bloedorn and Ruth Reines of the Washington County Department of Human Services, Patricia Fabian of The Threshold Inc., Laurel Peckenpaugh of PeopleServe, and Kathy Wolfgram of Cedar Community.

For more information about "Best Time Ever," contact coordinator Julie Frank at 1-800-963-0035 or This E-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 2010 Best Time Ever Booklet

For more news from Care Wisconsin, click here